It is the tale of Raja Misra (Saif Ali Khan,) an educated man, who transforms during the film from a job applicant at a hotel to a notorious gangster who takes on politicians and big businesses.

Here is what critics said about the movie:

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“Bullet Raja,” is a “racy ride, cynical, yet sweet, dark, yet bright,” wrote Srijana Mitra Das in a review on the website of The Times of India. Ms. Das praised all the actors, the imagery and the set.

But she found the movie a tad too long, with average music. Sometimes, she says, the direction of the movie wavers.

She recommends the film, but adds a footnote saying people who don’t like political tales should avoid it. She gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of five.

Faheem Ruhani is all praise for the movie in a review on the website of India Today, a news magazine. Mr. Ruhani says “Bullet Raja” does try to woo the masses like “Dabangg” and “Singham” did but unlike those movies it “does not sacrifice a certain essence that you have come to associate” with Mr. Dhulia’s recent films, including “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster” and “Paan Singh Tomar.”

“The result is a des-chic, guns and gore affair, set against the backdrop of conniving UP politics and mafia,” Mr. Ruhani wrote.

The production design “captures authentic milieu and details of all the three places, [Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai and Kolkata] keeping it real at all times,” wrote Mr. Ruhani. He found the action sequences in the movie to be “well-choreographed” and mostly realistic.

Mr. Ruhani also appreciated the sharp writing, well-constructe scenes and the super dialogues in the movie. “Dhulia unveils a narrative over which he has remarkable control. He captures the political-industrial nexus with necessary economy of scenes,” added Mr. Ruhani in his review.

He especially liked Mr. Jamwal’s performance — who also designed his stunts in the movie – because it grabbed the viewers’ attention in the second half.

Mr. Ruhani gave the movie three-and-a-half stars out of five.

Subhash K Jha, in a review for the news agency Indo-Asian News Service, calls the movie daring, crediting Mr. Dhulia’s attempt at merging “mythological and historical allusions into current politics.”

“It takes a politically savvy storyteller of Dhulia’s skills to convert the lowest ebb of our politics into an occasion of high drama,” Mr. Jha wrote.

He compared the chemistry between Mr. Khan and Mr. Shergill to that of the very popular pairing of Jai and Veeru of the movie “Sholay.” “Saif and Jimmy, brilliant actors both, bring a kind of brusque but unbreakable friendship between them, a bonding that you know only death can break,” Mr. Jha wrote.

The critic also noted the dialogue which he says was different from the usual Bollywood delivery “where only one character speaks at one time.”

“Tigmanshu Dhulia allows the words to spill out of his characters as and how they appear natural,” he explains.

He calls the soundtrack “remarkably authentic” but adds that the songs are awful and brake the pace of the movie.

Mr. Jha appreciates the character portrayal executed by Mr. Khan, Mr. Shergill and Mr. Jamwal, but says Ms. Sinha’s character is “sketchily-written.”

He gave the movie four stars out of five.

Reviewer Sanjukta Sharma disagrees with the other critics, labeling the movie “A tedious, half-hearted Uttar Pradesh drama,” in her review on livemint.com.

She wrote that Mr. Khan’s performance is a “poor mimic” of the role that has now because Salman Khan’s staple in Bolllywood. Mr. Khan “seems sorely mismatched to the role, with awkward body language and speech,” Ms. Sharma wrote. The critic did not think much of Mr. Shergill’s acting either. The only actors Ms. Sharma found convincing were Mr. Babbar, who plays the role of a politician, and Ravi Kissan, whose character cross dresses as a woman, playing the politician’s former sidekick in the film.

The only interesting thing in the film, according to Ms. Sharma is the “gay subtext” between Mr. Khan and Mr. Shergill. “That’s not reason enough to watch this klutzy hybrid,” Ms. Sharma concludes.

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